‘World End’ Season 2: ‘Suka Suka’ Light Novel Spoilers For ‘WorldEnd: What Do You Do At The End Of The World?’
Will a World End Season 2 release date ever happen for the anime WorldEnd: What Do You Do At The End Of The World? The anime is based upon the light novel called Shumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka?, but like the similarly long main-titled DanMachi the World End novel also goes by the shorthand Suka Suka (or Sukasuka). Fortunately, there is hope that a Suka Suka Season 2 could be made in the future if author Akira Kareno has anything to say on the matter.
After all, the writer was involved in writing the script for the World End anime and director Jun’ichi Wada at studio Satelight is apparently a fan of the story. The real question is whether there is enough source material for World End Season 2, or a Suka Suka movie, to be produced sooner rather than later.
Suka Suka Light Novel And Manga: How The World End Anime Compares
The original Suka Suka light novel series was actually completed years ago, with Suka Suka Volume 5 being published in Japanese on April 1, 2016 (no joke). A Suka Suka gaiden, or side story, was published on February 1, 2017. A sequel to the series is called Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Mou Ichido dake, Aemasu ka?, or Suka Moka and SukaMoka, and as of this publishing the author is up to Suka Moka Volume 4. There’s also an ongoing Suka Suka manga drawn by Kaname Seu, which has been serialized under Media Factory’s “Monthly Comic Alive” magazine since June 27, 2016. Kadokawa released the first manga volume on February 23, 2017.
Unfortunately, while Funimation already began the English dub of the World End anime on May 1, 2017, the official Suka Suka English translation of the light novel has not been released yet. The good news is that a fan translation project has already finished up to most of Suka Suka Volume 5, but if there’s a Suka Moka English translation project, it remains elusive to search engines.
Overall, the anime adaptation of the Suka Suka light novel is good and does not sacrifice pacing, although various scenes were rearranged and shortened. Anime usually has to skim over certain details and world building is discarded to fit the source material within 12 episodes. The biggest change from the light novel is that a certain beast is not introduced at all in the anime and this character is critical to Volumes 4 and 5. Because of this change, the anime also neglects to reveal the true identity of the First Beast, but author Kareno probably retconned that spoiler from Volume 1 on purpose since it really didn’t make sense to have that revelation so early.
There’s also little differences. For example, in World End Episode 11 the characters find a girl encased in crystal. Willem activates his “spell vision,” an ability never used in the anime, to analyze the curse and the narrative gives more details about the hex’s abilities. The book also has a long discussion between him and Grick about the state of the girl and whether it’s possible to resurrect her like what was done with Willem. When Chtholly becomes entranced by the crystal, Willem literally has to plunge his hand into her chest, collapsing her lungs, in order to disrupt her magic flow and return her to normal.
That’s just one minor scene, which gives you an idea of how much content the anime skips over. As you can see, it’s worth reading the light novels from the beginning even if you’ve watched the whole season since the anime skips critical details and foreshadowing. (Be aware that the fan project translates many words differently, which can be confusing at first. Chtholly Nota Seniorious is Kutori. The troll Nygglatho is Naigrat. Even the magical energy Venenum is referred to as Venom, which makes sense considering how self-destructive it is.)
World End Season 2 Release Date
Will Satelight leave us hanging like they did with Log Horizon? As of this publishing, anime production companies Satelight and C2C have not announced anything official about the World End Season 2 release date, although this article will be updated as soon as the anime sequel is confirmed. However, there can be reasonable speculation about when, or if, the Suka Suka Season 2 air date may occur.
We know that World End Episode 12 matches up with the ending of Suka Suka Volume 3 except for some differences. That’s good news since that leaves two whole volumes of the light novel series for completing a second season (although a World End movie might be a better fit). There’s also the Suka Moka sequel light novels, but since it’s about four children the story arc is largely disconnected from the first series, so it’s possible that story will be reserved for World End Season 3, or perhaps even an anime with a different name.
The chances for a second season of WorldEnd: What Do You Do At The End Of The World? happening can also be judged by the Suka Suka Blu-Ray/DVD sales in Japan. The Suka Suka Blu-Ray release date is set for June 28, 2017, so this article will be updated once sales numbers become available.
There’s also the possibility that the author intends the anime to have an original ending. However, the counterpoint to that idea is that the anime shows the Great Sage incapable of finding a trace of Willem only to miss the two blips on the scrying pool. If ending the story at this point is the author’s intention, many questions will be left unanswered, but at least it’s a bittersweet ending. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes.
Suka Suka Season 2 Spoilers
If you’ve already watched the anime, then you know there’s a reason why the characters on the covers of the first three light novel volumes are all crying. This story is a tragedy except for the occasional reference to anime tropes. Thankfully, the source material stays that way, unlike Knights Of Sidonia. Even in the anime adaptation, there’s virtually no ecchi, fan service, and any hint of World End transforming into a harem anime is safely contained within mocking jokes made by Ithea Myse Valgulious. You could almost say the first two episodes of the anime were “trolling” fans.
This article will attempt to provide some spoilers about World End Season 2 without ruining the entire story. As such, what happens to Chtholly will not be mentioned. However, once you watch the first season’s ending you’ll know there’s a good reason the first chapter of Volume 4 is titled “Beyond Despair.”
What anime watchers know so far is that the forces of the god-like Visitor Elq Hrqstn united everyone to take out humanity. They were led by Carminelake, Jadenail, and Eboncandle, who was defeated only to use his powers to keep the sky islands afloat. But there are many questions. Who are the Visitors and what is their connection to the Leprechauns? Why exactly did humans turn into beasts? What is Willem’s past?
Volumes 4 and 5 of the light novel series provides those answers although a second season of World End can actually use the very first chapter, which was mostly skipped except for the discussion about butter cake. Anime audiences would learn more about Quasi Braves like Willem and what makes Regal Braves like Lillia Asplay different. Willem’s history defines his motivations and thus the anime should show what happened in the past.
These scenes would require the introduction of Willem and Lillia’s sword master, who was left completely out of the anime’s first season despite playing a huge role in defining these two characters. This character will be featured prominently when Willem must make a decision that changes his future.
At the end of Volume 3, and the beginning of Volume 4, Willem awakens as if from a dream and finds himself transported back to Gomag City — 526 years before the extinction of humanity! All of his memories are like a dissipating fog. At first he considers forgetting the dream, forgetting all the happiness and sorrow he’d experienced, but then he realizes the Leprechaun Nephren Ruq Insania is asleep on his stomach. Meanwhile, the troll woman Nygglatho handles the aftermath of the doomed surface ship only to learn of some hope: the Great Sage detected Willem’s heartbeat somewhere out on the land. The problem is that the unbeatable First Beast has been spotted in the area and it’s impossible to search for the missing persons since anyone who dares will be vaporized into sand.
The rest of the story arc follows Nephren and Willem along with other people from his past. We’ll be introduced to his “daughter” in the orphanage he grew up in and a scarlet-haired girl with a sad smile. The first season only hinted at the existence of other Braves and now we’ll get to see them. During the first season, Willem’s damaged body held him back, but now he’s healed and can fight at full strength. Yes, this does mean the action scenes should be glorious.
By the middle of Volume 4 readers learn of the legend of the creation of humankind from two different perspectives (skip the next two paragraphs if you don’t want major spoilers).
“Out from the faraway ocean of stars, the gods descended on the wasteland…. Upon seeing the empty, bleak plains, the gods were filled with sadness. They split off small portions of their souls and gave them to the wild beasts which crawled on the land. Carrying the soul fragments within them, the beasts gained intelligence and started to walk across the land on two legs. That is how the race known as humans came to be…. The soul fragments from the Visitors were limited. But the humans grew in population too fast. The fragments within each individual began to weaken and lose meaning.”
To explain, the god-like Visitors are evolved humans from another planet who came to a desolate world filled with mindless beasts. Most of these Visitors split their souls to create humanity out of these beasts, but when humanity grew too large in number humans were doomed to revert to their original forms, becoming the 17 beasts. The war happened because a human faction calling itself True World hoped to splinter the soul of Visitor Elq Hrqstn into dust and avert the humanity’s fate, but they failed. Another faction desired to return the planet to its true and original form.
The first half of World End Season 2 will focus on the actions of the First Beast and Ren and Willem’s adventures during the retelling of humanity’s last days. After facing the past, Willem escapes only to find himself become half-beast and many of his memories are sealed away in order to retain his humanity. Ren, being a Leprechaun, does not suffer ill effects and instead survives to live on an island with Eboncandle.
Despite surviving the First Beast Willem’s journey is not over yet. The final confrontation has Willem taking on the military, who plan on turning the remaining Leprechauns into mindless weapons. It’s only through more sacrifice that his story finds its bittersweet ending.
Amidst the despair, there will be humor, action, and plenty of reasons to keep watching. There’s also hope since Willem will eventually meet a character named Riel. Let’s just hope anime fans won’t feel the despair of Suka Suka Season 2 never happening!
[Featured Image by ue]
